Part 21 (1/2)
Jo sighed, but popped the bag to her still-extended teeth. She actually felt a little better after the first bag. She'd been feeling dried out and a little slow in the thinking area since waking, but the one bag had eased some of that. Jo needed all her faculties if she wanted to save Nicholas.
The phone rang as Jo waited for this second bag to empty.
Sam started to move to answer it, but paused when the ringing stopped before she could reach it.
”Mortimer must have grabbed it,” she said with a shrug, turning back.
”Here you go.”
Jo glanced around as Bricker held out a third bag and then glanced down with surprise to see that the second bag was empty. She tore it away and traded the empty bag for the fresh one and slapped that to her teeth as well. It seemed to go just as quickly as the first two, and Jo had just traded it for the fourth bag when they heard the front door open. Bricker moved to the kitchen door to look up the hall, and she saw the surprise cross his face.
”Thomas,” he said, and disappeared from view as he started up the hall, but they heard him say, ”What are you doing here?”
They also heard someone answer, ”Bastien said Nicholas is back on the radar and I wanted to know how he is and how close you are to catching him. Bastien wouldn't answer any questions though and said I'd have to come out and ask Mortimer myself.”
Thomas. Nicholas's brother, Jo realized and unthinkingly ripped the half-empty bag from her teeth, and then cursed when blood squirted everywhere. She tossed the bag in the sink, but didn' t bother about the mess she'd made and hurried up the hall toward the two men in the entry.
Apparently Sam wasn' t too concerned about the mess either, because she was hard on her heels. ”I thought you were in England with your life mate,” Bricker was saying, a worried frown on his face.
”We travel back and forth a lot on the company jet. It's only seven hours,” Thomas answered, glancing curiously to Jo and Sam as they stopped behind Bricker. Raising his eyebrows in question, he said, ”h.e.l.lo?”
”You're Nicholas's brother, Thomas?” Jo asked grimly, which made his eyebrows rise even further. They drew down in anger though when she added, ”The brother who didn' t doubt for a minute that he was guilty of murder and who won't even acknowledge he ever existed?”
Turning to Bricker, Thomas asked, ”Who the h.e.l.l is she?”
”n.o.body,” Bricker said at once, taking his arm and trying to urge him toward the door. ”You really shouldn't be here, Thomas. Let us deal with-”
”I'm not going anywhere until I find out what the h.e.l.l's going on with Nicholas,” Thomas said grimly, shaking off his hand.
”Oh, like you care,” Jo said with disgust. ”You and everyone else who were supposed to love him turned your backs on Nicholas fifty years ago.”
Thomas stared at her with amazement and then turned to Bricker again. ”Who is she? And why the h.e.l.l is she barking at me like an annoying Chihuahua?”
”More like a German shepherd I'd say, and her bite is worse than her bark,” Nicholas said wearily. They all turned to see him standing at the top of the stairs, peering down at Jo affectionately. And then he frowned and said, ”Speaking of which, where is Charlie? ”
Jo's eyes widened incredulously as she realized she'd not thought to wonder that herself. She turned to Sam.
”He's at Anders's place,” Sam whispered.
Jo's eyes widened even further at this news, but before she could ask why, Thomas had pushed past her to reach the bottom of the stairs, his voice shocked as he said, ”Nicholas?
They caught you?”
Jo scowled at the suggestion. ”Of course they didn't. He's too smart for that. Nicholas turned himself in... to save me,” she added bitterly, and when Thomas glanced to her in surprise, asked, ”Does that sound like the actions of a man who'd kill a completely innocent pregnant woman he didn't even know?”
Thomas scowled at her. ”No, but then I never thought he did it.”
”Then why have you refused to acknowledge his existence all these years?” she snapped.
”I haven't,” Thomas said at once, and then frowned. ”Who are you?” ”My life mate, Jo Willan,” Nicholas announced, moving down the stairs with Mortimer and Anders on his heels.
Thomas turned to Jo with amazement. ”You're my brother's life mate.”
Jo scowled at him and then glanced to Nicholas as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He slid his arm around her and kissed her on the nose. Smiling sadly, he turned to his brother and explained. ”I was told you won' t talk about me anymore. I thought it meant you too believed I was guilty.”
”I won' t talk about you because it upsets the women,” Thomas said dryly. ”It made Aunt Marguerite and Lissianna sad, and you know how close Jeanne Louise was to Annie. She burst into tears every time your name or Annie's was mentioned after what happened. It was just easier to not mention you in front of them, and then it was easier not to have to explain the whole mess to others. But I never believed you had killed that woman... at least not without good reason. I don't care how messed up you were after Annie's death, you just wouldn't do it. But you weren't around to ask and-”
”Wait a minute,” Jo said, interrupting him. ”Jeanne Louise was close to Annie? ”
”Yes.” Thomas glanced to her curiously. ”She was always over there visiting with her.”
”Always over there pestering us, you mean,” Nicholas said with wry affection. ”And usually at the worst possible times. I was always throwing her out.”
Thomas smiled faintly. ”Jeanne Louise was over there all the time when you were off hunting rogues too. She and Annie would shop together and stuff. She even slept over when you were gone for days so Annie wouldn't be alone. They were like Siamese twins when you weren' t around.”
”They were?” Nicholas asked with surprise.
”She might know what Annie wanted to tell you then,” Jo said, turning to Nicholas with excitement. ”We have to talk to her.”
Nicholas hesitated, but then frowned and shook his head. ”She would have told me if she knew anything.”
”Not if she didn't know it was important,” Jo pointed out, and then turned to Thomas. ”Where can I find Jeanne Louise?”
”She's at Aunt Marguerite's with my wife, Inez,” Thomas said slowly. ”The ladies wanted a girly day with Inez, so I dropped her there and went to see Bastien, who,” he added dryly, glancing back to Nicholas, ”brought up the fact that Nicholas had made a reappearance. Then he wouldn't answer any of my questions except to say that if I wanted to know anything I should come to talk to Mortimer at the house.”
”He was trying to keep his promise without keeping his promise,” Mortimer said dryly, stepping off the stairs and moving to Sam's side. ”What promise is that?” Nicholas asked.
”I had to clue him in to what was going on when I called about his sending out the IV and drugs for Jo's turn, but I made him promise not to mention your presence here.”
”Why?” Thomas asked with surprise.
”Because I made a promise to Nicholas that if he brought Jo in, he could see her through the turn and have one night with her before I called Lucian. I didn't want word getting out before that promise was fulfilled.”
”Thank you, Mortimer,” Jo murmured, grateful that he'd kept his word. Otherwise, she could have woken to the news that Nicholas had already been judged and executed and wouldn't now have the hope of saving him. Patting the man's arm, she smiled and then turned to Thomas. ”You need to take me to your sister.”
”He needs to take both of us to see Jeanne Louise,” Nicholas corrected her grimly, and then pointed out, ”You have no idea what was happening at that time. I can find out more from her.”
”You're right,” she agreed and glanced to Thomas. ”You need to take us both to Jeanne Louise.”
”Just a minute,” Mortimer muttered, moving between them and placing a hand on Nicholas as if suspecting he might make a run for it at any moment. ”Nicholas isn't going anywhere.”
”You said he could have a night with me,” Jo said accusingly.
”Well, yes, but here” he said at once. ”Not gallivanting around the city.”
Jo arched an eyebrow and glanced to Nicholas. ”Was there any mention of where that night would be?”
”No. Just one night with you,” Nicholas said with a grin.
Nodding, Jo turned to Mortimer. ”Are you a man of your word or not? You promised him o ne night with me. I want to go to Aunt Marguerite's. Hence he has to go.”